I don’t think I’m a panic merchant but I’ll be honest I was becoming concerned after Southampton,. we were on our second manager of the season, the players clearly didn’t give a t*ss, the squad was a mess in terms of its make up (loads of tens, lacking a striker and a left back) , confidence was fast evaporating and it didn’t look like we had a plan .
We looked like one of those teams that you see in a relegation battle and wonder “how the F*** did that happen ?” . We can see some fans still now think unsworth had turned the form round whilst plenty think that we’d never be dragged into a fight . Koeman position became untenable, we were awful against Leicester, spawned the points against Watford, were far than impressive against what was then a still struggling palace and then came Atalanta and the now notorious performance at Southampton.
I must admit after the humiliating 4-1 performance at a then struggling Southampton which followed so quickly on from our 1-5 annihilation at home to Atalanta (admittedly with a weaker side in a dead rubber), I felt change was urgently needed fast.
We acted and the new manager was watching on as they then perhaps not so miraculously seriously upped their game and put in a performance against West Ham.
I haven't changed my view that we were seriously on the slide prior to West Ham and in danger of getting beyond a point where recovery was at all likely or at best an extremely tall order.
For me Allardyce was very much needed, or at least a change of manager, I was actually wanting Dyche, but we still have the same unbalanced squad with the same personnel and a lot of the problems haven't vanished. It was imperative we started beating any team we face and getting points on the board to stop the rot and reverse a decline that was about to become much more serious.
Sam has done all that could reasonably have been asked of him, the football can never be great with our existing shortcomings still very much in evidence, but we can in the short term become much harder to beat, and this he's achieved.
We haven't suddenly become a great attacking side but it was never realistic to expect that, get results move forward and then on to the next step.
My worry was if we’d got it wrong , I can give you a list of talented managers that have done a great job before they’ve got a job and often after but just been the wrong appointment for a particular club at a particular time, they just haven’t fitted the dynamic and things have gone wrong . We couldn’t afford that, we just couldn’t and if you’re moshiri with grand plans and ideas you absolutely can’t take that chance . We’re all emotionally invested in Everton and it’s important to us he’s got a lot of money tied up in us not being that team that’s again too good to go down but does even if it was very unlikely .
I don’t think I worried , particularly about relegation when it all went wrong under Martinez . Well I don’t feel like I did other than the usual depression but I’m not going to lie I was starting to become worried. Not we’re doomed worried but absolutely an appointment must be made now worried.
The fact that the battling and fairly fortunate point at Palace was followed by the admittedly inconsequential 5-1 drubbing at home to Atalanta and the truly horrific 4-1 capitulation to a struggling goal shy Southampton outfit, just sharpened the sense of urgency.
It was the Southampton game more than any other and the pitiful performance plus the lack of any idea on basic defending that really scared me.
Other managers maybe could have turned it around, some here think nothing was more certain, I think it possibly the case but not definitely, and certainly not so quickly.
I wasn't particularly wanting Allardyce but did think that he represented our best chance. The situation was serious enough and threatening to become far worse. If confidence dips so badly and defeat becomes just the norm, the only doubt being by how many, then the situation can become one of irreversible decline and we were sliding into just that.
